NEW DELHI: Doordarshan News will telecast live the opening of the Commonwealth Games from Glasgow.
The telecast of the Games being held from 24 July to 4 August will commence at 1.00 am India time.
Programmes (Live/Highlights) will also be telecast during the Games on DD News. That apart, All India Radio will carry the live commentary of the opening and closing and events involving Indians.
Regular Highlight Capsules will be telecast daily by DD News. All events where Indians are taking part will be highlighted with live coverage.
I&B Ministry secretary Bimal Julka told indiantelevision.com that the Ministry wanted the telecasts on DD News.
It is learnt that DD Sports and Ten Sports failed to reach an agreement on the issue, and the Ministry issued a show cause notice to Ten Sports on Tuesday evening for declining to share the feed with DD Sports.
Julka said, "We have recommended to Prasar Bharati to show the games on DD News. The Board was of the opinion that it would be a loss of revenue if sports is telecast on DD National."
He said that the primary news bulletins in the mornings, afternoons and evenings will not be disturbed, unless there is some sporting event involving Indians.
The Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow is considered a sports event of national importance, making it mandatory for the rights holder (Ten Sports in this case) to share the broadcast with Prasar Bharati under the Prasar Bharati (Mandatory Sharing of Signals) Act. The sports event is mandated to be carried on the terrestrial network to ensure that viewers who do not have access to cable or DTH services can also view the games. Usually, DD telecasts such events on DD National (which is a terrestrial network) and on DD Sports (available on cable and DTH) after working out an agreement with the rights holder with regard to marketing and revenue sharing. Under the Act, DD gets 25 per cent of the commercial revenue, the rest going to the rights holder.
Julka described as an exaggeration estimates by DD revealed that it would incur a loss of Rs 2.5 crore every day, totaling to a loss of Rs 27.50 crore in 11 days if it shifted its regular programming for the Games telecast.
Giving reasons for not shifting the Games to DD National, sources said around 2.8 million viewers may be affected by shifting DD News from the terrestrial mode for the period of CWG as compared to 115.3 million viewers if the games are shown on DD National. Similarly, DD National earns advertising revenue of about Rs 350 crore compared to Rs 5 crore by DD News which would be adversely affected.
